Gardeners Logic steps up with second residency

From left: Ian Bailey, Mike Wilson and Vince Phung perform every Monday in April at Detroit Bar.

In just nine months Gardeners Logic has gone from the solo side project of local singer-songwriter and guitarist Ian Bailey to a full-time folk outfit featuring drummer Matt Wilson, guitarist Vince Phung and a steady rotation of other O.C. players.

Bailey came up with the moniker in 2008 while still in high school. At the time it served as an outlet for material that didn't sit right with his other bands. Later that same year he joined rock act the Counter Regiment, along with Wilson and longtime friend Gary Westmoreland. In 2011 that trio disbanded while still opening Music and Arts Production Studio (MAPS) in Huntington Beach to focus on behind-the-scenes work. That December, Bailey brought some of his music in, and he and Wilson started work on Gardeners Logic's debut EP.

It took seven months to complete, during which time the duo decided to keep the project under wraps and not perform live. By June, however, they were ready to unleash their seven-song recording and present new material to audiences for the first time, with the help of fellow local musicians at the Avalon in Costa Mesa. A few weeks later, and only a handful of shows into its career, Gardeners Logic was offered its first month-long Monday night residency at Detroit Bar.

"It all did happen pretty quickly in hindsight," Wilson says during our interview this week at the Costa Mesa club, where Gardeners Logic is once again the resident band, performing ith a variety of opening acts – including Jameson, Stacy Clark, Billy Kernkamp and Golden Afternoon – every week-starter in April.

"When we first decided to play shows the biggest question was: 'With what size band?'" Bailey adds. "In my mind I wanted every part that we recorded in the studio played live, so we mostly had six- or seven-piece bands those first shows."

The group continued to flourish and last December Phung joined full-time as the band readied itself for a mini-tour in January. Bailey self-booked the West Coast jaunt. During down days on the road, he'd call up venues along their route to inquire about last-minute openings.

"I was just calling people like, 'Hey, we don't have anything on this night so if you have a spot ...' Sometimes it worked out. We had friends and fellow musicians in almost every city we went to that were really supportive, and we slept on a lot of floors, not even couches. We also took two cars, so we didn't even have a van to sleep in."

Returning home the guys began work on new tracks, creating enough content to release physical copies of The La Habra EP on April 29, the final date of its residency. Each Monday evening the band will debut a new song, then play the entire disc on the last night. Unlike with the self-titled effort, they've set a hard deadline to press the album. As of this week, the recording had yet to be finalized.

"We have the bones down but we just need to add the meat," Bailey says with a laugh. "I'm excited to be doing this, but this is our first time working under a self-set deadline, so the pressure is on.

"We've said it will be out by then, so I guess if we don't make it, then we blew it. We'd be giant liars, but it will get done. I just hope that people who come out, if they like the one new song, they'll come back the next weeks to hear another one and another one, and like those as well."

Once the Detroit Bar gigs are over, Gardeners Logic will head out on a second West Coast trek, this time with fellow O.C. act Big Monsta. Wilson says the guys also have big plans for their studio, where they've already produced and recorded releases for their future road mates and Randsburg.

"The studio is our little business project," he explains of the 3-year-old endeavor. "That way we can pay the bills and manage to record our own stuff, too. The band is staying busy and the studio is really busy, because it's all kind of attached. We're trying to gear everything we do in that one direction."

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